Yemen: government army says it struck the Houthis 874 times in the last hours – the toll and the fronts

Yemen’s government army has issued a new tally of the “Dawn of Yemen” operation against the Houthis. In a statement released in the early hours of Tuesday, November 10, the armed forces claim that in the last hours they struck 874 times at positions, concentrations, reinforcements and fortifications of the movement, with about 190 Houthi officers and fighters killed or wounded.

The figures were given by the armed forces spokesman, Colonel Majed al-Nuzaili, in a statement carried by the government news agency Saba from Aden. Most of the strikes involve artillery: 744 rounds of field artillery. To these are added 29 air raids by fighter aircraft, 39 strikes with drones and 62 fire missions by multiple rocket launchers. Initial reports from the field, according to the army, also speak of about 130 Houthi vehicles and combat assets destroyed or disabled, as well as damage to positions and fortifications. All the numbers come from the government side.

The fronts, one by one

The statement describes fighting along almost the whole length of the contact line. In the north, in al-Jawf and Marib, units of the Emergency Divisions, the “Nation’s Shield” forces and the 3rd, 6th and 7th Military Regions are, according to the army, confronting Houthi movements and hitting their positions. In al-Bayda the Shabwa Defence Forces and the region’s military sectors are active.

In Taiz, government forces with the support of the Popular Resistance are repelling, according to the statement, Houthi attacks. The only territorial gains explicitly mentioned concern the southern and south-western front: there the “Nation’s Shield”, the Giants Brigades and the National Resistance retook, the army claims, some positions, while in other sectors clashes continue. The spokesman stressed that operations are carried out with the necessary measures to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure.

The announcement comes a day after a similar tally on Monday, November 9, in which the army spoke of 982 strikes, among them 17 air raids and 123 drone operations, as well as about 127 Houthi killed or wounded and 158 vehicles and assets destroyed or disabled. The army then also reported that it had captured new heights in al-Jawf.

The daily tallies add to the overall figures the government gives for the operation. Earlier this month the Presidential Leadership Council claimed that “Dawn of Yemen” had “neutralised” 20,000 Houthis in a month, with more than 40,000 strikes. On the other side, the Houthis put forward their own losses from the air strikes of the Saudi-led coalition, as in the case of the 44 dead they announced east of Sanaa.